More than a portion of states are now seeing “high” or “very high” levels of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in their wastewater testing, according to figures released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevention, since this summer’s COVID wave reaches a developing percentage of the country.
Nationally, the CDC now says the overall level of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater is “elevated” for the first time since last winter. Levels remain “high” in western states, where trends began to worsen last month, while other regions are now seeing more potent increases at or near “high” points.
Friday’s update is the first since last month, due to the July holiday.
This increase is in line with the increasing number of COVID-19 patients presenting to emergency rooms. The District of Columbia and 26 states are now seeing a “substantial increase” in emergency room visits related to COVID-19, according to the agency. .
Nationally, the average proportion of emergency COVID-19 patients is also now the same since February and 115% higher than a month ago.
Overall trends in emergency room visits and hospitalizations remain at what the CDC considers “low” degrees in several states, well below the fatal peaks reached earlier in the pandemic.
But emergency room visits for COVID-19 crossed the threshold of “moderate” degrees in Hawaii last month, after a buildup that surpassed the last two waves of the virus. Florida is also now in “moderate” degrees, in the middle of a wave. that is, reaching the maximums observed since last winter.
“We’re seeing trends that are consistent with what we’ve noticed in recent years during the summer, where we’ve noticed increases in activity this time of year that are just as gigantic as those seen during the summer. ” said Aron Hall, deputy director of science in the CDC’s department of coronaviruses and other respiratory viruses.
Health governments in some communities have said in recent weeks that the surge is a sign that now might be the time for others to avoid COVID-19 infections, especially at-risk Americans with underlying health conditions, to start taking extra precautions such as wearing masks and testing in many parts of the country.
Hall said the recent buildup didn’t appear to be more severe than last summer’s surges, but he reiterated the importance of getting vaccinated and taking other steps, such as seeking remedy for others who are at greater threat of severe disease.
“The activity we’re seeing lately is in line with past trends. It’s not necessarily an additional explanation for why to be alarmed, but it’s a vital reminder that there are key steps other people can take for themselves,” he said.
Most of the first states to achieve “high” levels of COVID-19 in wastewater last month were in the West, where the proportion of COVID-19 patients in emergency rooms has also accelerated. Infections reported in nursing homes are also higher in this region.
Other countries also saw COVID-19 trends grow this summer earlier than last year. In the United Kingdom, COVID-19 hospitalizations are reaching levels seen since February.
But there are now signs that this summer wave may have peaked in some states in the region, where the virus first gained momentum.
Forecasts updated by the CDC this week estimate that COVID-19 infections are surging in nearly every state, but are “stable or uncertain” in three: Hawaii, Oregon and New Mexico.
“It’s hard to look forward to the future. And if COVID has taught us anything it’s that things can change. But based on past trends, where we saw sort of a summer wave that peaked around July or August, that’s what what we could be waiting for this year,” Hall said.
Nursing home infections slowed for a direct week in the Pacific Northwest, in the region that stretches from Alaska to Oregon.
In Hawaii, where COVID-19 emergency room trends this summer peaked worse than the last waves of the virus in winter and summer, patients have been declining for several weeks.
Hall warned that even though COVID-19 trends have slowed after the summer spikes of recent years, they are still much worse than the lows seen in recent spring lulls in the virus.
“We don’t necessarily see a lower point or a lower point between summer and winter waves, at least historically. That’s when we think about protecting vulnerable people,” he said.
The CDC last updated its variant projections every two weeks after July 4, estimating that the KP. 3 variant accounted for more than a third of infections nationwide.
Behind it were the KP. 2 and LB. 1 variants, two close relatives that are all descendants of the JN. 1 strain that dominated infections last winter. Together, those 3 variants (KP. 3, KP. 2, and LB. 1) accounted for more than 3 out of four infections nationally.
Hall said there is “no indication yet of increased disease severity” related to any of those variants, contrary to what the firm has said in recent weeks.
Hall said the firm is tracking hospital knowledge and ongoing studies, as well as detailed analyzes of the virus’s genetic changes, to look for signs that the threat of new variants has possibly increased.
“None of those knowledge resources have given us any indication that those variants cause more severe disease than has been previously observed,” he said.
As of the end of June, the CDC estimated that all regions of the country were experiencing a combination of these strains, but some more than others were location-dependent.
KP. 3 accounts for the highest percentage of infections in various parts of the country, while LB. 1 is most prominent in the New York and New Jersey domain and KP. 2 is most prominent in New England.
For now, Hall said KP. 3 and LB. 1 are the fastest-spreading variants, their relative spread appearing to be “considerably smaller” than that of highly mutated past strains like the original Omicron variant.
“It’s nothing as dramatic as some of the previous adjustments in the virus that we’ve seen,” he said.